The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

smurfjed

Give it a few months, and it'll become a pain in the ass again!

Lol, more like for the next few months its gonna be a pain in the ass :)

Now I have to work out how you knew that it was a -200ER (90B) rather than a -300ER ??

We don't blank VREF or BARO on exit, thats for the next guys

eatmyshorts

smurfjed wrote: »

Now I have to work out how you knew that it was a -200ER (90B) rather than a -300ER ??

There's a very simple way from that photo to tell if it's a - 200 or a - 300.
And using something else you can tell if it's a - 200ER or a - 200F/-200LR

smurfjed

OK, I'm gonna go for the Standby Instruments versus the Integrated Standby Flight Display for the 200/300.

But the -F??

eatmyshorts

smurfjed wrote: »

OK, I'm gonna go for the Standby Instruments versus the Integrated Standby Flight Display for the 200/300.

But the -F??

Getting there! All 200F and 200LR have the integrated standby system. So it wasn't one of those.
But some 300's have the separate standby system too.

There's a very easy way to see in the photo if it's a 200 or 300 series.
Hint... It's something that's NOT there.

John_Mc

eatmyshorts wrote: »

There's a very easy way to see in the photo if it's a 200 or 300 series.
Hint... It's something that's NOT there.

Taxi camera?

eatmyshorts

John_Mc wrote: »

Taxi camera?

Affirm.
More accurately the lack of a taxi camera button on the Display Select Panel.

xzid

I didn't get a chance to go through all the 183 pages so pardon me if the questions I'm going to ask have already been asked.

I am interested in becoming a Commercial Pilot. I am not quite sure about where to get the training from. Is it possible to start training lets say in Ireland and finish it in Middle East? Or do you have to stay in the same school from start till the end?

The other question is how are the Irish Airlines in terms of benefits. I was looking up at Emirates, and they offer free accommodation, healthcare and many other perks.

Thanks!

smurfjed

I was looking up at Emirates, and they offer free accommodation, healthcare and many other perks.

You really have to do more research regarding these kinds of perks, unfortunately the Emirates of today is no where near the Emirates of 5 years ago in relation to how they are treating employees, who knows what they will be like in 5 years.

Apart from that, the experience needed for an expatriate to fly for Emirates means that it wont be your first airline employer.

Better to stick in Europe or Europe/USA for your training. I see no benefit of coming to the Middle East to train.

merryberry

Question...when at cruising altitude the flight deck turns on the 'seatbelts on' sign, cabin crew announces over pa that captain has now turned on the fasten seatbelt sign, toilets off limits, please return to your seats...at this stage im bracing myself for a rattling that never comes...not even a jolt. After a short while the seatbelts on sign is turned off and cabin crew resume their business. Im sure its just precautionary but this has happened on a few flights ive been on lately with Ryanair. What is prompting pilot to do this...weather radar??

Skuxx

merryberry wrote: »

Question...when at cruising altitude the flight deck turns on the 'seatbelts on' sign, cabin crew announces over pa that captain has now turned on the fasten seatbelt sign, toilets off limits, please return to your seats...at this stage im bracing myself for a rattling that never comes...not even a jolt. After a short while the seatbelts on sign is turned off and cabin crew resume their business. Im sure its just precautionary but this has happened on a few flights ive been on lately with Ryanair. What is prompting pilot to do this...weather radar??

They also turn the seat belt signs on if one of the cockpit crew is going to the toilet!

basill

Turning the seat belts sign on is a precautionary action to avoid you getting hurt. We have charts which indicate likely areas of bumps. Across the Atlantic and in remote areas outside of radar coverage there are also "chat" frequencies where pilots can ask leading aircraft what the ride is like. In a radar environment ATC can provide a source of information on the bumps. Putting together all of the above we then make an informed decision to flip the switch.

Its not our company policy to turn the belts on for a comfort break but I appreciate other companies employ that tactic.

Bigcheeze

I was a passenger on two copa airlines flights recently and their policy seems to be to leave seat belt light on for entire flight....both flights 6 hours.
Seems to devalue the point of having the light as everyone just ignores it. They also didn't bother with window blinds up for take off/landing or bags at your feet.

Matthew Gleeson

Chuck Aaron wrote: »

Goes to show how well the grapevine can turn out to be Mattt!

Indeed

g0g

Dunno how many pilots post replies, but hopefully I can find one who knows! I live in Bray and have noticed (from FR24) that for the late night incoming flights from the canaries and down that direction they tend to come up from Cork direction, pass NE over Bray and looop out over the bay to land on Runday 28 in Dublin. My questions is this - is it around Bray that you do a significant slow-down? Two things make me wonder this - firstly, FR24 seems to suggest I might be right, but secondly, the noise of them passing overhead is always very strange. There's a huge change in frequency of the sound, beyond what I would have guessed the doppler effect causes. I've noticed when on places also that as the flaps go down (or is it up/out) you can feel a slow-down and hear a change in noises outside.

Anyways, long question short, is the typical slow-down point for flights flying NE over Bray to land on 28 around Bray somewhere?

smurfjed

Generally crews are following a prescribe profile for each descent, in our case its now something like this:

• 10,000 slow to 250 KIAS
• 23 nms to touchdown, reduce speed to minimum clean speed
• 18 nms to touchdown, select Flaps 1 and slow down to Flap 1 speed
• Intercept heading, select Flaps 5 and slow down to Flaps 5 speed
• Glideslope alive or 2000 RA, selected Flaps 20 and slow down to 160 KIAS
• 1500 feet, gear down, followed by Flaps 30, slow down for last time.

There will be some leeway in this, and differences between aircraft types, but if you are living somewhere that is about 18 nms from touchdown, then dont be surprised if you see aircraft doing the same thing every time. As most descents are in idle power, any change in the aircraft noise will be created by the flaps or speedbrakes.

Hope this helps.

g0g

smurfjed wrote: »

Generally crews are following a prescribe profile for each descent, in our case its now something like this:

• 10,000 slow to 250 KIAS
• 23 nms to touchdown, reduce speed to minimum clean speed
• 18 nms to touchdown, select Flaps 1 and slow down to Flap 1 speed
• Intercept heading, select Flaps 5 and slow down to Flaps 5 speed
• Glideslope alive or 2000 RA, selected Flaps 20 and slow down to 160 KIAS
• 1500 feet, gear down, followed by Flaps 30, slow down for last time.

There will be some leeway in this, and differences between aircraft types, but if you are living somewhere that is about 18 nms from touchdown, then dont be surprised if you see aircraft doing the same thing every time. As most descents are in idle power, any change in the aircraft noise will be created by the flaps or speedbrakes.

Hope this helps.

Perfect, fantastic to get such a detailed answer - thanks a million. Yeah I measured roughly with this tool and would guess it's about 20-25 nms from touchdown where I am. Sounds a bit further out than the flaps point, but maybe it's not an exact science or maybe I'm measuring badly!

Out of curiosity would this vary much between aircraft type?

smurfjed

Out of curiosity would this vary much between aircraft type?

Some aircraft do not like slowing down and going down

bkehoe

g0g wrote: »

Anyways, long question short, is the typical slow-down point for flights flying NE over Bray to land on 28 around Bray somewhere?

Roughly, this is around the area of the first waypoint on the arrival procedure (SORIN) for RW28 that has a speed limit and a level altitude segment thereafter. Prior to reaching this point most aircraft will be in an idle power descent and once crossing the waypoint the engines will spool up in order to maintain level flight. The aircraft will then maintain level flight at 230kts and proceed on the arrival until cleared to turn towards the runway (usually direct to a waypoint called LAPMO). For most medium jets (e.g. 737) anyway they wouldn't need to begin to extend flaps on this arrival till approaching 10 miles unless given a lower speed restriction by ATC.

El_robbo1980

g0g wrote: »

Dunno how many pilots post replies, but hopefully I can find one who knows! I live in Bray and have noticed (from FR24) that for the late night incoming flights from the canaries and down that direction they tend to come up from Cork direction, pass NE over Bray and looop out over the bay to land on Runday 28 in Dublin. My questions is this - is it around Bray that you do a significant slow-down? Two things make me wonder this - firstly, FR24 seems to suggest I might be right, but secondly, the noise of them passing overhead is always very strange. There's a huge change in frequency of the sound, beyond what I would have guessed the doppler effect causes. I've noticed when on places also that as the flaps go down (or is it up/out) you can feel a slow-down and hear a change in noises outside.

Anyways, long question short, is the typical slow-down point for flights flying NE over Bray to land on 28 around Bray somewhere?

I find the sound much more pronounced from the a319/a320. I live in Tallaght and as they pass over in a rough NW direction to get ready to turn for RWY10 there's a very distinct sound, almost a droning sound, don't even need to look up to know it's an Airbus! Somebody said before it's a change in airflow when slats and flaps are deployed or a change from the engines as auto-thrust/autopilot is engaged or disengaged...

Razor44

smurfjed wrote: »

dont be surprised if you see aircraft doing the same thing every time. As most descents are in idle power, any change in the aircraft noise will be created by the flaps or speedbrakes.

Hope this helps.

gear down seem to happen just around where my folks house is on the run in to land on 28 @ Dub. the 330's make a low howl every time! the 320/1's are much higher in pitch. 777 on the other hand sound pretty distinctive

thanks for the excellent explanation

smurfjed

My latest words of distress are "monitor radar display"....... clearly and loudly shows that i didn't press the buttons in the correct order


Got a buzz this morning when I saw the class schedule for "B787 Transition".... its over 8 years since Boeing walked in trying to sell these, so its nice to see them finally arrive :)

John_Mc

smurfjed wrote: »

My latest words of distress are "monitor radar display"....... clearly and loudly shows that i didn't press the buttons in the correct order


Got a buzz this morning when I saw the class schedule for "B787 Transition".... its over 8 years since Boeing walked in trying to sell these, so its nice to see them finally arrive :)

You training up on the 787 yourself Smurfjed?

smurfjed

Nope.......777....which is quite a jump from my previous 73,200 lb aircraft

billie1b

smurfjed wrote: »

Nope.......777....which is quite a jump from my previous 73,200 lb aircraft

So from a 737-400 to a 777, nice!

Growler!!!

smurfjed wrote: »

Nope.......777....which is quite a jump from my previous 73,200 lb aircraft

billie1b wrote: »

So from a 737-400 to a 777, nice!

I reckon Gulfstream GIV! The weight is in pounds above:D and from some of the pics smurf put up.....

Peregrine

Yeah, I was pretty sure he used to be a G4 man!

billie1b

Growler!!! wrote: »

I reckon Gulfstream GIV! The weight is in pounds above:D and from some of the pics smurf put up.....

Could be, was just guessing from dealing with them in work, the DOW of the 734 is in and around 73,000lb.

EDIT : I also now remember Smurf giving out about a pilot in a G4 not following the correct procedures or checks in a video posted a while ago

Growler!!!

billie1b wrote: »

the DOW of the 734 is in and around 73,000lb.

It's about 149,000lbs or 68t

billie1b

Growler!!! wrote: »

It's about 149,000lbs or 68t

Thats the 734's MTOW, I was talking about its DOW

smurfjed

Principal decided to ground/sell his 5 G-IV's, so the crew got moved to other aircraft or retired.

73,200 lbs (MTOW) to 632,400 (MTOW).....Posted this a month back :)

smurfjed wrote: »

I was extremely fond of this one.....



But now I'm getting used to this one......